Storage Management Strategies for the CIO
Access "Do RAID levels still matter?"
This article is part of the Vol. 6 No. 9 November 2007 issue of RAID turns 20: Do you still need it?
Most new arrays stripe data across their spindles automatically to increase performance and better use disk capacity. With capabilities like that, RAID could become a thing of the past. The 20-year anniversary of the invention of RAID by David Patterson, Garth Gibson and Randy Katz of the University of California at Berkeley is less than a year away. Their revolutionary paper, A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), changed the way server-class computers stored data. Soon after RAID burst upon the scene, storage administrators had to wrestle with the pivotal RAID question: "How shall I place data on my hard disks to optimize capacity, performance and data protection?" But that question is becoming less relevant because most new storage arrays automatically distribute data onto a number of spindles, which eliminates the manual task of selecting RAID levels. Most Storage readers don't require an introduction to the concepts of RAID. But the rules of the game are changing. As recently as five years ago, storage administrators were constantly ... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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- High-end storage for small shops by Rich Friedman
- Snapshot: Ediscovery confidence dips from last year
- New book and toolkit preps companies for legal ediscovery by Rich Friedman
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Do RAID levels still matter?
by Bradley W. Hughey
Most new storage arrays automatically distribute data onto a number of spindles, which eliminates the manual task of selecting RAID levels. You can still manually select your RAID levels, but you'll need to balance availability, risks and costs.
- Report: Midmarket storage pros favor single-vendor strategy by Ellen O'Brien
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Solid-state storage finds its niche
by Alan Radding
Storage managers facing critical storage performance problems and needing maximum IOPS have found a feasible option in solid-state disk. Solid-state storage is fast, cool and it barely sips power, but it's still far more expensive than traditional media.
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- Weighing the risks of 1TB drives
- Making the case for FCIP and FCoE by Jerome M. Wendt and Joshua Konkle
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New demands, higher salaries for storage pros
by Ellen O'Brien
Our fifth annual Storage Salary Survey finds that time in the storage trenches is paying off with bigger salaries. However, stress levels and workloads are also rising, as respondents have to manage more storage with less money and increased scrutiny from upper management.
- Scalability may be a dedupe dilemma
- Survey Says: Still coping with capacity
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Where encryption fits best
by Jerome M. Wendt and Joshua Konkle
Everybody knows they should encrypt tapes that go offsite, but many are still on the fence about where encryption should occur in their storage environments. There are a number of options, ranging from using your backup app's encryption capabilities to installing a purpose-built encryption appliance. We weigh the pros and cons of the available alternatives so that you can decide which approach best suits your shop.
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Columns
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Editorial: Web services for storage? It's already happening
Web services for storage? It's already happening
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Hot Spots: Web 2.0 storage: Challenges and choices
by Bob Laliberte
Web 2.0 tools and strategies hold many potential benefits for businesses that deploy them, but their requirements for rapidly scalable storage and access, as well as persistent data, pose significant challenges for the IT staffs that need to build and manage the infrastructure.
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Best Practices: Tackling data migration
Data center projects often involve migrating data, which is frequently a painful process that can lead to unplanned downtime and outages. It's time to adopt consistent, repeatable migration practices. Selecting the right approach is highly dependent on infrastructure limitations, data and platform types, time constraints and staff capabilities.
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Storage Bin 2.0: Virtually changing everything
Server virtualization drives storage growth and dramatically drives the proliferation of storage networking. This is enabling the re-invention of how we manage, protect, store and access information.
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Editorial: Web services for storage? It's already happening
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